A. How to Design a Good IEP B. How to Track Your Child’s Progress

2. A. How to Design a Good IEP B. How to Track Your Child’s Progress C. What to Do When Your Child’s IEP Starts to Get Off Track D. How to Make Mid-Year Changes E. How to Keep Your Relationship with the School On Track F. Q&A

3. Designing the IEP From Emotions to Advocacy, by Pam Wright and Pete Wright

4. SMART IEPs • “Design is a plan for arranging elements in such a way as best to accomplish a particular purpose.” • Charles Eames, American Designer • SMART IEPs are: • Specific • Measurable • Use Action Words • Realistic and Relevant • Time Limited

5. SPECIFIC • Specific goals target areas of: • Academic achievement, and • Functional performance. • Specific goals are: • Clear • Descriptive • Specific goals include knowledge and skills to be taught to the student and how the student’s progress will be measured.

6. Which goal is specific? • Erica will increase study skills for academic success. • Erica will demonstrate the following study skills: skimming written material and use reference materials in history class.

7. MEASURABLE • Measureable: means you can COUNT or OBSERVE the goals. • Measurable goals allow parents and teachers to know how much progress the child has made since the performance was last measured. • This is a KEY factor for ensuring you keep your child’s IEP on track. • Measurable goals allow you to know when your student reaches a goal.

8. Which goal is measurable? • Blair will improve her second grade math skills. • Given second grade math, Blair will answer 8 out of 10 problems correctly.

9. ACTION WORDS • Start with: “The child will be able to…” • 3 components that must be stated in measurable terms: • Direction of behavior (increase, decrease, maintain, etc.) • Area of need (reading, writing, social skills, transition, communication, etc.) • Level of Attainment (to age level, without assistance, etc.)

10. Which of these goals includes action words? • Wes will increase his productivity by being more organized. • Provided with organizational management cues and adult support, Wes will be able to file papers by subject in his notebooks so that he can find and complete assignments at home.

11. REALISTIC and RELEVANT • Having realistic and relevant goals and objectives will help address the student’s unique needs that result from a disability. • Realistic goals for your student should not be based on external standards such as state or district tests, or district wide curricula.

12. Which is specific, measurable, and realistic? • Rebecca will demonstrate improved reading skills. • Given second grade reading material, Rebecca will read a passage of text orally at 110-130 wpm with random errors.

13. TIME LIMITED • Time limited goals ensure that a parent will be able to monitor progress at stated intervals. • Ask questions like: • What does my child need to know and be able to do after one year of special education services?

14. Where to start? • Put the pen to the paper! • Write down statements about what you want your child to know and be able to do. • Revise goals until: Specific, Measurable, Use Action Words, Realistic, and Time-Limited • If you do this, your goals will describe what the child will know or be able to do. The focus will be on behavior that you can count or observe and progress will be assessed objectively.

15. Be Vigilant • A parent/advocate always faces the danger that the IEP team proposes goals that are: • Not specific • Not measurable • Do not meet the child’s academic and functional needs, and • Do not describe how the child’s progress will be measured. • It is your job to challenge teachers to work harder to ensure that your child’s goals address his/her educational needs and are written appropriately.

16. But…How Do I Remain Vigilant? • THE COLUMBO STRATEGY: “5 Ws + H + E” • Ask Questions!! Ex: Who? What? Why? Where? When? How? Explain? • This strategy only works if you LISTEN to answers! • Using this strategy skillfully may allow you to shift school personnel from reporting feelings to reporting observations and facts.

17. Remember…. • Designing your child’s IEP is only the beginning. • It is equally important to monitor your child’s IEP and to ensure that it remains on track.

18. How To Track Your Child’s Progress By Blair Hornstine

19. Topics • How to Organize Your Child’s File • Understanding Your Child’s Test Scores • Independent Educational Evaluations

20. How to Organize Your Child’s File Without good organization, it is impossible to keep track of your child’s progress

21. Creating a Master File Gather all necessary information • First – make a list of any group that might have information or records • Doctors • Therapist • Medical Professionals • Second – draft a letter to send to these groups requesting a copy of your child’s records. • Please refer to the section on Letter to the Stranger

22. Creating a Master File (cont.) • Third – write letter to the school requesting your child’s educational records • Address a copy to both the Principal and the Director of Special Education • Depending on your school district, you may have to pay a fee for this service Source: Pam Wright & Pete Wright, From Emotions to Advocacy (2d.ed. 2008).

23. Organizing the Master File • Date all Documents • Write date of document in lower right-hand corner of each document • Only use a PENCIL • NEVER write on your originals • Place all dated documents into a 3-ring binder in chronological order • Start from the earliest date until the latest date Source: Pam Wright & Pete Wright, From Emotions to Advocacy (2d.ed.2008).

24. Master File List • Organize a spreadsheet to record each document in the master file • Include these headings • Date • Author of Document • Type of Document • Significance of Document Source: Pam Wright & Pete Wright, From Emotions to Advocacy (2d.ed. 2008).

25. Master File – Do’s and Don’ts • Don’t write on or mark up your originals • Don’t give your originals to anyone • Do keep your file up-to-date • Easier to do constantly rather than trying to throw everything together at the last minute Source: Pam Wright & Pete Wright, From Emotions to Advocacy (2d.ed. 2008).

26. Understanding Test Scores How to understand what the scores tell you about your child’s progress

27. Comprehensive Evaluations • Reading • Phonological awareness and rapid naming • Word recognition • Nonsense words • Fluency • Silent reading comprehension • Oral reading comprehension • Receptive language skills • Vocabulary • Listening Comprehension

28. Writing • Handwriting and/or keyboarding • Spelling • Ability to formulate sentences • Writing fluency • Paragraph writing • Ability to plan and organize a story and/or essay • Oral language skills • Issue could be related to ability to express thoughts in writing

29. Mathematics • Computational skills • Number formation for younger students • Math related vocabulary • Computational fluency • Math reasoning Source: Pam Wright & Pete Wright, From Emotions to Advocacy (2d.ed. 2008).

30. How to Compare Test Scores • To be able to track your child’s progress, you need to examine the evaluation test scores • You can only compare the same tests and sub-tests • Do not mix-and-match tests

31. Understanding the Meaning of Test Scores • Using Statistics • By comparing the same test scores and sub-test scores you can track your child’s progress • Key to Understanding Test Score Meaning • Raw Score • Number of answers child answered correctly • Standard Score • Score based on norm-referenced tests • Percentile Rank • Percent of scores that fall below a point on a score distribution • For example – 50th percentile rank means that 50% of children received the same score or lower Source: Pam Wright & Pete Wright, From Emotions to Advocacy (2d.ed. 2008).

32. Example • Alex is given a test when he is 7.0 years-old • Raw Score – 15 • Standard Score – 10 • Percentile Rank – 50% (average range) Example provided by Dr. Suzanne Brassel, Clinical Psychologist Phone: (757) 253 - 0371

33. Alex is administered the same test when he is 10.0 years old • Raw Score – 15 (meaning he got the same number of items correct when he was 7 years old) • Standard Score – 4 • Percentile Rank – 2% (deficient range) • This means that while he is not deteriorating, Alex has made no progress • In comparison to his peers, Alex is falling behind

34. Visual Aid

35. Let’s Change the Facts • Alex is administered the same test when he is 10.0 years old • Raw Score – 10 • He no longer can achieve a score of 15 • Standard Score – 1 • Percentile Rank – 1% • This means that Alex has deteriorated and has fallen behind his peers

36. Visual Aid

37. Where Should Alex Be? • For Alex to remain at the 50th percentile rank, then his raw score would need to be 35 • Children should be continuously improving and progressing

38. Norm-Referenced Testing • Most educational testing is based on a child’s abilities in comparison to others of the same age group • Test scores are based on a particular age group within a three-month range • In this way, you can track your child’s progress or regression Source: Pam Wright & Pete Wright, From Emotions to Advocacy (2d.ed. 2008).

39. Is My Child Actually Making Progress? • Start of IEP • Have an initial baseline score when formulating goals • Make sure goals are measurable so you can track progress • Afterward • See how child did on post-testing • Did their scores remain the same, i.e. stagnating progress? • Did their score improve and are they at the same percentile rank? • Did their score decrease?

40. Independent Educational Evaluations (IEE) How to request additional testing

41. What is an IEE? Independent educational evaluation means an evaluation conducted by a qualified examiner or examiners who are not employed by the local educational agency responsible for the education of the child in question. Source: 34 CFR 300.502 (a)(3)(i), 8VAC20-81-10

42. Parental Rights to IEE • If a parent disagrees with an evaluation conducted by the school, then the parent has a right to request an IEE at public expense. • After a parent has made a request, the school must either provide the IEE or proceed to due process to prove that their evaluation is appropriate. • A parent can only request one IEE each time the school completes an evaluation that the parent disagrees with. Source: 34 CFR 300.502 (b) and (e), 8VAC20-81-170(B)(2)

43. Parental Rights to IEE (cont.) • While the school should provide with a list of professionals that can conduct the IEE, a parent has the right to choose who will evaluate the child as long as the evaluator meets the school’s criteria. • Consult: Independent Evaluations: Must Parents Choose an Evaluator from School's Approved List? http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/test.eval.choice.osep.htm Source: 34 C.F.R. 300.502, 8VAC20-81-170(B)

44. References Pam Wright & Pete Wright, From Emotions to Advocacy (2d.ed. 2008) For more information, please go to: www.fetaweb.com For more information on this topic, please see section on Parent as Experts: www.fetaweb.com/expert.htm

45. What to do when your IEP starts to get off track Simple steps any parent can take

46. Problem • Susan came home without her weekly progress log, again. You feel angry and frustrated the teacher isn’t complying with provisions written in the IEP. You’ve brought this concern up with the school before, and the problem persists… • What do you do?

47. Step 1: Stay Calm

48. Step 2: Write Things Down • Write down your concerns as they happen • Use your own words

49. Example Friday January 4, 5:00pm Susan did not receive her weekly progress report today. On Monday I will contact her teacher and ask for report on this past week’s progress.

50. Why? • Create examples • Avoids general statements, which feel antagonistic • Clearer communication of your concern • Quicker resolution of the problem • Prepares you